Estrogen hormone replacement therapy seemed to have all sorts of benefits based on observational studies, but they vanished under the more rigorous lens of controlled clinical trials.
The study of that drug, called Bolero-2, involved 724 women with cancers fueled by the hormone estrogen.
Parabens have the ability to mimic the hormone estrogen, which may play a role in the development of breast cancer.
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For example, higher levels of the female sex hormone estrogen can stimulate the growth of breast and endometrial cancers, and fat cells are known to produce estrogen.
Women who are being treated for breast cancer are often prohibited from using traditional hormone replacement therapy because breast cancer can be sensitive to estrogen, the predominant female hormone.
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Epidemiologic studies over the past 40 years have identified numerous risk factors for breast cancer, including: older age, an early age at menarche, a late age at first full-term birth, not having children, a family history of breast cancer in a first-degree relative, greater height, higher circulating estrogen levels, postmenopausal hormone use, breast density, history of breast biopsies, obesity (for postmenopausal breast cancer), and exposure to ionizing radiation.
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Typical hormone supplements contain estrogen and progesterone.
Aromatase inhibitors, like Arimidex, stop estrogen production completely by curtailing a hormone called aromatase.
About two-thirds of tumors have estrogen receptors that make them vulnerable to hormone-blocking medications.
Other treatments include hormone therapy if the cancer is responsive to estrogen.
Bisphenol-A is also a very weak estrogen-like compound that binds weakly to a set of hormone receptors.
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The participants were post-menopausal and had become resistant to certain hormone drugs called aromatase inhibitors that block production of estrogen.
Let's look at one of the biggest changes in medical practice of the past decade: the decision to stop putting millions of postmenopausal women on hormone replacement therapy, which postulated that replacing the estrogen and progesterone their bodies were no longer making would do them long-term good.
It didn't evaluate any plant-based or compounded kinds of hormone replacement therapy, and I think that it skewed the discussion of estrogen replacement in such a way that now, probably many women are really afraid to touch it with a 10-foot pole, no matter how much they suffer.
On the bright side, new data on estrogen replacement therapy could be better for Wyeth than many expected (see " Wyeth Lucks Out On Hormone Study").
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